Messages such as email are processed in a highly distributed fashion, oftentimes handed off from server to server and organization to organization. The servers write log files detailing the processing steps for each message as the message transits the networks. The ability to trace message delivery end-to-end is useful for troubleshooting mail delivery problems, and also when surfaced to the senders or recipients of the messages to provide transparency into the message system.
An absence of tracking mechanisms has in the past resulted in significant expenditure by IT (information technology) departments to hire staff to manually look at log files and answer user complaints related to mail delivery delays, for example.
Existing tracking mechanisms may work well within the scope of a single organization; however, when a message is handed off to another organization or network, the tracking mechanism is unable to track the message cross-boundary because of the absence of a standard and defined way to establish trust between organizations, to request tracking data, and to put the data together.